By
Alec Hogg.
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JOHANNESBURG — Alex Matturri (pictured right), the CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices, is in South Africa this week as part of a visit to the country. I managed to interview Matturri as well as Zack Bezuidenhout (pictured left) - who is the head of client coverage for S&P Dow Jones Indices SA - about how the organisation views the South African market amid recent political developments. Our discussion, which took place at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, also extended to the debate raging over passive versus active, and how interest in emerging markets grew strongly in the latter half of 2017. - Gareth van Zyl

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This special podcast is brought to you by RMB. Ewan Gray from RMB Ventures just concluded a transaction with a company called Kamoso Distribution – the biggest private equity transaction yet in Botswana. He discusses the intricacies of the deal with Biznews publisher Alec Hogg.

JOHANNESBURG — Energy analyst Chris Yelland is THE person to talk to in South Africa when it comes to updates about anything that is electricity or Eskom related. So, I decided to pick his brain about what is really happening with South Africa's latest R56bn IPP renewables deal. Earlier this month, the government moved to sign the latest deal, ...…

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's rand is among the top-performing major global currencies in 2018 as it cracked the R12/$ level in late January and has hovered around that zone. But should the rand, at least in theory, actually be trading at R6.26? The Efficient Group's Dawie Roodt explains why the local currency should be much stronger, at least ...…

This special podcast is brought to you by RMB. Capital is cowardly, only going where it is welcome and safe. It is also very smart, automatically seeking out the highest returns by flowing to areas of the economy where growth is fastest and most sustainable. As we become increasingly connected in the Internet age, demand for data is likely to k ...…

This special podcast is brought to you by RMB and Nanagolo Phiri, Co-head of the Debt Financing Group at RMB is joined by Alec Hogg. There’s lots of action happening in the debt markets of Africa lately, and there’s a big conference in Cape Town in mid-March that will focus on the subject. Nana discusses loans, bonds and sukuks in more depth.…

JOHANNESBURG — Veteran broadcast journalist Rajesh Sundaram has dropped another bombshell on the crumbling Zupta empire. The former ANN7 consulting editor has published a book, entitled 'Indentured: Behind the Scenes at Gupta TV', and it's set to air more dirty laundry about the likes of Ajay and Atul Gupta, who are currently wanted by SA polic ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Pauli van Wyk, a journalist with Daily Maverick's investigative team Scorpio, has been at the forefront of breaking stories on the 'SARS Wars' saga. On Friday, she broke a bombshell story about the Hawks and NPA allegedly using a defunct KPMG rogue unit report to charge ex-SARS officials Ivan Pillay, Johann van Loggerenberg and A ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Lawyer Richard Spoor is well-known for taking on corporate giants in major class-action cases in South Africa - among these being the silicosis lawsuit against gold miners. Amid his towering reputation for taking on these tough cases, he's now part of a class-action lawsuit against Tiger Brands. The food maker has been embroiled ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Interesting revelations were made in SAP's press conference on Thursday morning regarding its controversial dealings with Gupta-linked fronts. The first major revelation was that the company identified misconduct in its ranks but stated that its SAP staff in SA didn't pay bribes to employees of state-owned Eskom or Transnet. But ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Artificial intelligence and robotics are not just hot topics in the developed world, but they're also starting to have a very real impact in emerging markets like South Africa. Just this week, Nedbank and RMB have announced plans to tap robotics. Already, some unions are up in arms. But technologies emanating from the Fourth Indu ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Skills development is a hot issue in South Africa. Former President Jacob Zuma's decision to switch on free tertiary education for poorer households also sparked debate back in December. But while learning institutions have a role to play in upskilling our youth, it's also the responsibility of corporates. In this interview, Dani ...…

JOHANNESBURG — In this interview with Ricardo Teixeira, Chief Operating Officer for BDO Wealth Advisors, he talks tax amid the recent announcements in the 2018 Budget Speech. He goes into depth about the growing taxes on the wealthy, but he also talks about utilising the Retirement Annuity as the new Trust vehicle. Take a listen. - Gareth van Zyl…

JOHANNESBURG — Amid the 2018 Budget Speech, South African taxpayers, especially the middle-to-higher income earners, are fast approaching the maximum levels of being taxed. This is according to Ferdie Schneider who is the National Head of Tax at BDO in SA. He says the country is already at a tipping point when it comes to personal income tax an ...…

JOHANNESBURG — In the end (and possibly against many odds) Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba managed to deliver a Budget that has pleased markets, with the rand strengthening and SA bond yields rallying. However, President Cyril Ramaphosa's fingerprints were all over the Budget and many will be questioning now when Gigaba will be booted from his p ...…

JOHANNESBURG — In what is described as the first fully-fledged private lodge in the Kruger National Park, the Mdluli Safari Lodge is looking to onboard investors in an interesting 12J opportunity. The project is further unique insofar as it involves a partnership with the Mdluli community, who were kicked off their land during Apartheid but who ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Alec Hogg and I attended a briefing hosted by insurer Brightrock in Sandton on Tuesday where we reflected on our trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos last month. Hogg provided a brilliant presentation in which he reflected on certain events at Davos involving Cyril Ramaphosa that are now incredibly relevant in terms of the r ...…

JOHANNESBURG — 'Let’s Do It! World' is a civic-led mass movement that began in Estonia in 2008 when 50 000 people decided to clean up the entire country in just five hours. The concept has now spread to the rest of the world, including South Africa. In fact, there's a big cleanup planned for cities such as Johannesburg in September this year. T ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Sean Peche is a veteran in South Africa's financial services industry and, since 2001, he's been residing in the UK where he is the CEO of Ranmore Fund Management. Peche has focused on creating a global fund that seeks out opportunities in investing in equities such as Google and BMW. In turn, the fund helps South Africans access ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Over the weekend, Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka joined forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan in also offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the likes of Ajay Gupta. Currently, Ajay Gupta is a fugitive on the run and probably South Africa's most wanted man. Wierzycka has offered over R1m of her own money as a rewa ...…

JOHANNESBURG — The wheel has really turned in South Africa with Ajay Gupta being officially described by the Hawks this week as a fugitive on the run. It's a situation that would have been unthinkable just several months ago. But amid the winds of change and the hunt for Ajay and his brother Atul, rumours are swirling about their whereabouts. R ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Here's a fascinating discussion with Nick Binedell, founder and former dean of GIBS, Africa's top business school. Binedell has productively applied the time freed up by his recent retirement. He is one of many unsung heroes who worked tirelessly behind the scenes as South African civil society fought back against the state captu ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Just an hour after Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in as South Africa's new President, I was fortunate enough to attend a special panel discussion on 'Money Laundering and State Capture', hosted by the Wits Business School in Johannesburg on Thursday night. The panel discussion was led by Lord Peter Hain and included star-studded atten ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Alex Matturri (pictured right), the CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices, is in South Africa this week as part of a visit to the country. I managed to interview Matturri as well as Zack Bezuidenhout (pictured left) - who is the head of client coverage for S&P Dow Jones Indices SA - about how the organisation views the South African marke ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Gidon Novick is legendary in the South African business space for being the former CEO of Discovery Vitality and founder of Kulula.com. But he's now shifting his attention to new opportunities with a business called Lucid Ventures. In a bid to tap tax-savings opportunities presented by 12J regulation, Novick's Lucid Ventures has ...…

JOHANNESBURG — For some months, forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan has been stalking SAPS Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane, whom he describes as "a criminal with a badge". Thanks to O'Sullivan's efforts, this week the country's top cop and his wife were formally charged. Against them is an open and shut case of corruption involving cars the Ph ...…

JOHANNESBURG — The Mining Indaba, being held in Cape Town this week from 5-8 February, comes at a time of a cyclical upswing in the global industry. But South Africa, owing to missteps in recent regulatory decisions, risks missing the rewards of this periods unless it makes some drastic changes. In this interview with Alec Hogg, RMB's Business ...…

A decade and a half after they started working together, Felicity Duncan and Alec Hogg have teamed up again with Biznews Premium. As the editor, Felicity is responsible for helping subscribers make sense of the chaotic news flow - bringing complex issues into context. Recently relocated from the US to Ireland, here's her story.…

JOHANNESBURG — Paying premiums for Bitcoin on local South African exchanges has become par for the course for many buyers in the country. However, a new Bitcoin brokerage, dubbed BitDirect, aims to help buyers purchase the cryptocurrency for much cheaper prices. Of course, BitDirect is a brokerage rather than a pure exchange, and therefore you ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Despite facing the biggest crisis in its existence thus far, I think Capitec's CEO Gerrie Fourie has been a straight shooter in tough questions I asked him on Tuesday afternoon. A calm-sounding Fourie talks about what he says are inaccuracies with the controversial Viceroy Research report on Capitec. Viceroy took aim at Capitec o ...…

JOHANNESBURG — In a press conference in Cape Town, Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie addressed concerns raised in the latest Viceroy report. Fourie brushed off several claims from Viceroy while accusing the short seller of not doing its homework properly. The briefing was short and didn't include questions, but this saga is set to drag on especially am ...…

DAVOS — Among my personal highlights of the Davos week is attending George Soros's annual dinner where the investor-turned-philanthropist shares his views on the world. Now 87, the hour long speech can seem a little ponderous and requires disciplined focus but the quality of his content remains extraordinary. With a worldview shaped during a yo ...…

DAVOS — As you'll hear in this excellent contribution from two of South Africa's sharpest minds, the "snapback" in the currency is entirely rational. Colin Coleman, who runs Goldman Sachs SA, reminds us that last week Wall Street's more influential investment bank provided a strong endorsement. And IDC bossman Geoffrey Qhena weighs in with the ...…

DAVOS — Zimbabwe's Tinashe Mashungu and South Africa's Shamiso Kumbirai are two young Southern Africans who have really mingled with the who's who of Davos. As WEF Global Shapers, the pair told me about their experiences at Davos 2018. It's an incredible privilege that they have as they've had several private sessions with top leaders, ranging ...…

DAVOS — San Francisco is the home of WEF's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution where it is looking at the advent of various technologies, ranging from drones to AI. But the centre is also focusing heavily on blockchain, the distributed digital ledger technology underscoring cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The media's focus, in recent ...…

DAVOS — Unusually, Cyril Ramaphosa arrived late for Team SA's scheduled press conference, having been caught up with other world leaders. He made it in time to answer questions around the terms of reference for the State Capture report - and other issues that have the SA public's attention. Ahead of his arrival, cabinet ministers Rob Davies Ebr ...…

DAVOS — What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago in Davos, one sensed that CEOs from South African businesses were struggling to find some brightness in the gloom. No such challenge this year. Especially not for Sasol's joint chiefs Bongani Nqwababa and Steve Cornell, who are now enjoying a near perfect storm - the oil price has risen; ...…

DAVOS — It's incredible who you can meet at the World Economic Forum in Davos. After attending a blockchain talk hosted by blockchain software firm Consensys, I was fortunate enough to interview a man who was the driving force behind the rollout of 4G mobile broadband across the globe. Ron Resnick, a former Intel Veteran, was instrumental in th ...…

DAVOS — In recent years South Africans have waited impatiently for the real Cyril Ramaphosa to stand up. The man who led the historic 1985 strike by the National Union of Mineworkers and the ANC's negotiating team at Codesa seemed to have gone AWOL during his service as deputy to president Jacob Zuma. In reality, Cyril was biding his time. What ...…

DAVOS — A friend who mixes in powerful circles urged my Davos adventure to include a meeting with Brand South Africa's CEO Kingsley Makhubela with whom he was enormously impressed. As you'll hear from this interview, my pal was on the money. The former ambassador and Tourism DG, who capped his studies with a PhD two years ago, has his finger ve ...…

DAVOS — With hindsight, Business Leadership SA's decision to appoint Bonang Mohale as its full time CEO, was inspired. Ever since he took office, the voice of big business has resonated loudly, playing a huge role in winning the war against corruption. It was the first time BLSA tapped a top ranked executives for what was previously a part-time ...…

DAVOS — Cybercrime is costing the globe up to $500bn each year, according to Alois Zwinggi, an MD at WEF Geneva. And that number could skyrocket in years to come unless something drastic is done. Subsequently, the World Economic Forum has set up a new Global Centre for Cybersecurity in Geneva, Switzerland. Corporations from across the globe are ...…

DAVOS — For sheer perseverance, few match the exploits of Mike Mulcahy, a Cape Town-based entrepreneur honoured at this year's Circular Economy awards in Davos. With accommodation in the town at a huge premium, Mulcahy was twice bussed from Zurich to Davos and back in less than 24 hours. That's a challenge at the best of times, but after the he ...…

DAVOS — Media group Naspers is best known for being the biggest shareholder in Chinese internet giant Tencent - its stake today being worth more than the total capitalisation of the South African company's listed shares. But it's not a one trick pony. Naspers is starting to be recognised for some smart investments that have turned it into a maj ...…

DAVOS — My colleague Alec Hogg interviewed the guys from LiquidChefs at last year's WEF Forum in Davos. This year, it's been my turn, and I was left impressed with how the South African-born business is expanding rapidly across the globe. If you've ever been to a major corporate or media event in South Africa, you probably would have been serve ...…

DAVOS — Recent political changes in South Africa have resulted in a wave of growing positive sentiment within the country. As Ramaphosa has started his era as the ANC's new president, there's a feeling that he'll be more business-friendly and tougher on corruption. However, the Zuma years have left South Africa battered. The economy and country ...…

DAVOS — On Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the U.S. News & World Report together with the likes of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania unveiled the 2018 Best Countries report. The report measures countries as brands and looks at metrics such safety, property rights and adventure. Switzerland ranks number one while ...…

DAVOS — Being at the World Economic Forum in Davos you get to meet lots of interesting people and learn about projects that you didn't even know existed. One such project is a solar microgrid that is powering Cape Town World Heritage Site, Robben Island. The microgrid is essentially a small-scale electric grid with both lower fuel costs and car ...…

The world's economy looks set for a rosy year. On the day that the IMF once again upgraded its forecast for GDP growth, professional services giant PWC released the results of research which shows record optimism among global CEOs. The firm's annual survey, its 21st, polled over 1 300 CEOs. The upbeat conclusions were released in Davos ahead of ...…

JOHANNESBURG — Current Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa certainly knows how to get an audience to eat out of the palms of his hands. On Thursday morning, I found myself in the Hilton Hotel in Sandton, where I attended a briefing that the new ANC leader — together with a high-level government delegation — held in light of Team South Africa's upc ...…

Having both spent many years in the financial journalism space, any discussion between Lindsay Williams and Alec Hogg will be valuable to the listener. Lindsay, the producer and presenter on Fine Business Radio on FMR101.FM in Cape Town, will on a weekly basis host Alec, where they'll be discussing all things South African markets. The first of ...…

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